I listen to NPR on a regular basis, especially when I am making the drive from Bellingham, WA to Seattle, WA. Every few months NPR will have a fundraiser (OK, not ever few months but it sure feels like it). This year the local station in the Pacific Northwest is having an online fundraiser. I see this as a great opportunity to give back to NPR so I have donated all five games that Smart Box Design has developed. They are WordPop, Word Monaco Solitaire, Word Watch, Triples, and Farkle Dice. Bidding on the games is from February 16 – 22, 2007. You can go here to get involved and donate or make a bid.

The editor of Palm 24/7 selects his two favorite games and WordPop is one of them. We are of course thrilled that he would choose WordPop. For all your Mobile news make sure to drop by daily to Palm 24/7.

Here is their commentary:

For me there are two that stand out as being perfectly suited to the PDA / Smart Phone format but it would be good to know which games you have played the most and keep coming back to time and time again.

Igzo The Dolphin is just so addictive and probably the game I have played most on any type of device or games console. It’s only 13k and free so there’s no excuse not to try it.

WordPop! has had me turning in circles for the past few months- I am not very good at it but that does not stop me trying over and over and over again to beat my high score. It has been responsible for more late nights than anything else lately.

Our best selling game WordPop! for Pocket PC is being updated. Below is a list of changes we plan to make. We love hearing ideas from our customers. Please send me an e-mail at support@smartboxdesign.com or post a comment to the Forum. The link is below.

– Ability to Clear High Scores / Best Words
– Add Quit to Game Menu
– Improve sound and music settings
– Display New Player Tips
Update the word list incorporating the many suggested words e-mailed to me.
– Add Treo 700w and 750w support
– Code optimization for newer devices

I look forward to hearing from you.

Read and Post WordPop Suggestion to the Forum

WordPop! for Pocket PC was released over a year ago and over that time we have received some great suggestions for the game. Below is a list of changes we plan to make. If you have some additional ideas please feel free to post them at our forum or add a comment to this blog. Here is what we are working on for a new release early next year.

  • Add ability to clear High Scores / Best Words
  • Add Quit to Game Menu, which removes the game from memory (Windows Mobile leaves all application in memory unless it is explicitly removed)
  • Add additional sound and music preferences
  • Add Playing Tips
  • Update the word list incorporating the many suggested words I’ve collected from players
  • Add 240 x 240 Art so it can be played on the Treo 700W and other square screen devices
  • Fix saved registration bug. When some PDAs crash the registration is lost and the player has to to reenter the reg key.
  • Code optimization for newer devices

I look forward to hearing from you.

Chances are, no matter how well you might plan the round, you often find yourself down to your last 3 or 4 letters but without a solution to clear the board. This is the perfect time to use a bonus tile, especially the blank bonus tile. The blank bonus tile can be used as any letter. To use it, tap on it then place it on an empty location on the board. For example you find you have the letters R, C, and H. By placing a blank tile next to the R, you can make RICH. But if you use up your bonus blank tiles too early, you may not have a way out. You can try WordPop here.